A.—No. 1

accusations which were being made against us, and which were sent privately to the Queen's Government. 7. Upon the whole I can arrive at no other conclusion than that Her Majesty's Government have been misled by statements made to them by Sir D. Cameron, and that upon being more fully acquainted with the facts of the case, they will regret having given expression to the opinions contained in their public Despatches. 8. I have met this question as if the letters referred to in it had been really private letters, because I know that even in that extreme case I had acted honorably and rightly, and conscious of this I was determined to meet it in the extreme form in which General Cameron had placed it; but in truth they were not private letters, and he was entirely unjustified in placing the matter in this light. The letters were in the form in which almost the whole of our official correspondence had been conducted. General Cameron dealt with these letters as public ones whenever it suited his convenience or objects to do so, without giving me-the least warning that he intended to do this. A remarkable instance is his private letter to me of the sth January, 1865. He sent this as a public letter in his public Despatch to Lord de Grey, of the 7th of January, without giving me the least intimation on the subject, although it was a letter which unaccompanied by any explanations from myself, was calculated to do me injury with Her Majesty's Government, and regarding which I should have exceedingly desired to furnish explanations if it was to have been sent home. Lord de Grey also did not hesitate to treat this as a public letter, and published it in the Parliamentary Papers of the 6th April, 1865, without any answer to it from myself being published at the same time, a proceeding which I thought extremely unfair, as this letter of General Cameron's was likely to injure me with the British Government, the British Parliament and public, and was clearly meant to produce this effect. I however never said a word on the subject or complained of what had been done, nor should I now have mentioned the matter except in my own defence. I have, &c, The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P. G. GREY.

Sess. Papers 1865, A. No. 4, p. 2.

No. 13. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., to the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P. (No. 157.) Government House, Wellington, Sir,— 12th December, 1865. I had the honor to receive, upon the Bth instant, your Despatch No. 76, of the 22nd September last, directing me to report upon the subject of a Despatch addressed by General Cameron to Lord de Grey,-upon the 7th of July last, regarding a block of land at Waitotara. 2. I believe a consideration of Sir D. Cameron's Despatch will show how entirely unfit a person he was to be entrusted with the duty of making behind my back confidential communications to Her Majesty's Government, occasionally unfavorable to myself and my Ministers, regarding the management of affairs in the Colony, as far as they relate to the manner in which the Troops are employed, which terms seem to have included every subject. 3. I have, ever since I have known this system prevailed here, earnestly remonstrated against it, but I feel quite sure that a perusal of Sir D. Cameron's Despatch of the 7th of July will show that to give to a person so eminently disqualified for the task such a secret and irresponsible power over me was to ensure my ruin, and to render it certain that serious difficulties must arise between myself and Her Majesty's Government. 4. I find it difficult to write with calmness on such a document as Sir D. Cameron's letter of the 7th of July is, but I shall strive to make the matter as clear as I can. 5. In the first place, the subject treated of is the purchase of a block of land by the Government from the Natives, which purchase, according to Sir D. Cameron, was an " iniquitous job."

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ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OE STATE.